Anne Johnston (1932 – June 26, 2019) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician and community activist. She was a longtime city councillor in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. She was first elected to

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The Toronto City Council 2022–2026, current term began on Nove ...

in 1972, and served until 1985 when she ran against incumbent

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Art Eggleton Arthur C. Eggleton (born September 29, 1943) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 59th and longest-serving mayor of Toronto from 1980 to 1991. He was elected to Parliament in 1993, running as a Liberal in York Centre and served ...

, but was defeated. In 1988 she was elected to

Metro Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an Regional municipality, upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and vill ...

Council (in the first election where Metro Councillors were directly elected). She served until Toronto was amalgamated into the megacity in 1997. That year, she was elected to the new Toronto City Council and served until 2003, when she was defeated by

Karen Stintz Karen Ruth Stintz (born November 2, 1971) is a Canadian politician who represented Ward 16 Eglinton—Lawrence on Toronto City Council from 2003 to 2014 and was the chair of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) from 2010 to 2014. She was the Con ...

. At the time of her defeat, she was the longest-serving and the oldest member of Toronto council. Johnston was also a candidate for

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...

in 1978, when she lost to Fred Beavis in a deadlocked council vote for David Crombie's interim replacement; that vote literally came down to Beavis' name being drawn out of a hat. She campaigned for the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

in the 1981 provincial election as a member of the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...

, and lost to Progressive Conservative incumbent Larry Grossman in St. Andrew—St. Patrick by 3,835 votes. Johnston attempted to unseat

as mayor in the 1985 municipal election but was defeated 92,994 votes to 59,817. She returned to elected office in the 1988 when she was acclaimed as Metro Councillor for North Toronto. In the late 1990s, Johnston's queries into the city's computer leasing deal led to the establishment of the MFP Inquiry which unearthed corrupt practices in the deal and reforms in the city's public accountability framework. For most of her career, Johnston was known as a progressive voice on council. In her final term she supported a controversial

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

development at the corner of Yonge and Eglinton in 2002 adjacent to her ward. The North Toronto Tenants Network was so incensed by Johnston's move that they ran an advertisement in a local

community paper Community paper is a term used by publishers, advertisers and readers to describe a range of publications that share a common service to their local community and commerce. Their predominant medium being newsprint, often free and published at regu ...

, seeking applicants to contest Johnston's council seat. Stintz responded, and defeated Johnston in the 2003 municipal election by 2,321 votes. Johnston chaired the Toronto Seniors' Assembly and has been appointed as the group's Seniors' Advocate.City of Toronto: Toronto history, Former City Councillor Anne Johnston - 2001-2003
/ref> The Anne Johnston Health Station in Toronto is named after her.

Personal

Johnston was born in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and immigrated to Canada landing first in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in the 1950s where she worked at a psychiatric hospital and then relocated to Toronto to work at the Queen Street Mental Health Centre. Johnston died in Toronto and survived by her five children Heather Stauble, Keri Johnston, Robert Johnston, Jane Johnston and Tim Johnston as well as her eight grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Anne Toronto city councillors 1932 births 2019 deaths Women municipal councillors in Ontario Welsh emigrants to Canada Ontario Liberal Party candidates in Ontario provincial elections 20th-century Canadian municipal councillors 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian municipal councillors 21st-century Canadian women politicians